Everglades City
by Denise Wauters
Extraordinary City Council Meeting on Tuesday, June 9 – 6 pm
You’ve driven past it — that open stretch of waterfront right at the Everglades Airpark, beside the runway. It’s called the Everglades City Outpost, and next Tuesday it comes before our City Council.
The council is holding an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, June 9, at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. The big item on the agenda is whether the council will back Collier County moving ahead with buying the six parcels that make up the Outpost.
The Outpost is about 53 acres of waterfront, sitting right next to the county-owned airpark near the mouth of the Barron River on Chokoloskee Bay. It’s been called the last large undeveloped tract in Everglades City and Chokoloskee, and it’s been marketed for years as a prime spot for waterfront development. The featured image gives you a rough idea of where it sits, but you can see the exact parcel boundaries on the official listing.
The land is zoned Residential Tourist, which on paper could allow a few hundred residences. You can see why a lot of folks around here are uneasy about what something that size would do to a our town.
The county has been working toward buying it for a while now. County officials have talked about putting it to public use — workforce housing, a public boat ramp and parking, and keeping part of it from being built on. None of that is settled yet, the details are still being worked out.
Tuesday is our chance to say something before the county decides.
The meeting is hybrid, so you can come in person to the council chambers at City Hall or join online by Zoom. The Meeting ID is 291 629 7131 and the password is 34139. You can also dial in at 1-929-205-6099. If you want to speak, email City Clerk Dottie Joiner at dsmallwood@cityofeverglades.org before 5:00 p.m. on June 9. Speakers get three minutes, and written comments go into the record, up to 400 words.
The council is also expected to take up a separate resolution about a Collier Mosquito Control referendum that same evening.
This is a decision that will outlast all of us, so showing up matters. Come help decide what the future of our town looks like.
You may also be interested in Potential Closure of Everglades Airpark Raises Concerns or Citizens Rally to Save Everglades Airpark.
